# Christmas tree powered by an electric eel. Cool. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896 "2007-12-13T19:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/1 "2007-12-13T19:48:43Z")
Well, how about that?! [This](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22242648//wid/11915829?GT1=10736) guy in Japan has figured out how to power a christmas tree by harnessing the electricity from an electric eel. Any electrician/engineer dopers out there that can tell me how much that “aparatus” would cost to build? And how complicated is it…Just wondering… ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/2 "2007-12-13T20:14:20Z")
Fucking cool!!! Get one to power the SDMB servers!!! ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/3 "2007-12-13T20:24:55Z")
Good grief that’s cool. (Am I the only one who thinks that the people saying it’s “green” are missing some of the ancillary support costs for the eel? Isn’t it a tropical fish, and that aquarium looks awfully clean, so add some filtering, too… ) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/4 "2007-12-13T20:48:03Z")
“O Christmas Tree,” English Version 1 O Christmas Tree, with electric eel, How sparkly are your branches! In beauty green will always glow Through grid brownouts and winter snow. O Christmas tree, with electric eel, How galvanic are your branches! O Christmas Tree, with electric eel, You are the tree most feared! How unfair are the cruel raps You shock the children with electric zaps, O Christmas Tree, with electric eel, You are loved but handled with gloves! O Christmas Tree, with electric eel, Your beauty green will teach me Of hope and carbon neutrality And of eco-friendliness for me. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree, You ecologic’ly will teach me. O Christmas Tree. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/5 "2007-12-13T20:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > “If we could gather all electric eels from all around the world, we would be able to light up an unimaginably giant Christmas tree,” Minawa told Reuters Television. Gotta love that part. Maybe he could use the eel to power the tank as well. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/6 "2007-12-13T23:18:04Z")
There’s no vagina involved right? I’m still scarred from the last time ‘eel’ and ‘Japan’ were mentioned together on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![hekk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@hekk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hekk)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/7 "2007-12-13T23:57:44Z")
Wasn’t this done in the 1918 World’s Fair or something? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/8 "2007-12-14T02:44:48Z")
So, what the going rate for a seasonal 3-week eel rental? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/9 "2007-12-14T03:23:24Z")
So is he beating the eel’s ass to make it discharge? Is this a case for PETA? How many…whatever eels eat…does the eel have to ingest to light the tree? I don’t think this is a reliable power source, and I speculate the eel would like to do a Hannibal on the inventor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/10 "2007-12-14T03:30:44Z")
Hey, things could be worse for that eel. It has to beat ending up in a pie. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/11 "2007-12-14T03:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=blondebear] Hey, things could be worse for that eel. It has to beat ending up in a pie. [/QUOTE] Good point. Well taken. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/12 "2007-12-14T06:36:25Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > There’s no vagina involved right? I’m still scarred from the last time ‘eel’ and ‘Japan’ were mentioned together on the internet. That was an ass. (You should know these things.) TMI: On the positive side, that video has won me two “what’s the weirdest thing you’ve jacked off to?” contests. One of which was in boot camp, so you know that’s saying something. (The runner-up was the 1928 Sears catalog, IIRC.) I’m not proud, but I _am_ a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-tree-powered-by-an-electric-eel-cool/429896/13 "2007-12-14T14:31:46Z")
Good on you, **Scrivener**! That was inspired.